Kitchen Notes: Banana Bread

a small act of care

I started selling pre-ordered banana bread loaves last year as a way to mitigate the frenzy that happened every Saturday morning at the farmers market. People came to the pastry case with a hungry look in their eyes, scanning the back table for proof that there was, indeed, banana bread that day. Customers would approach the pastry case and order six, eight slices at a time. If they were late, their eyes grew anxious, searching frantically for “THE BANANA BREAD”. If we were sold out, they were crestfallen. We even have a customer I have dubbed, “The Banana Bread Lady” for her unbridled enthusiasm and proselytizing of the quick bread to any customer who hasn’t yet had the pleasure. Honestly, this post is for her.

I’m not sure how or when banana bread became such a cult favorite at our market stand. It wasn’t an item that I thought much about, except that it was an easy staple to include in our lineup. Since then, I’ve learned that people have strong opinions about banana bread, specifically inclusions. There are those who prefer nuts and there is the puritanical no-nuts camp. There is a decidedly anti-chocolate faction of banana bread lovers, which could never be me. I like my banana bread with toasted walnuts and chocolate, specifically milk chocolate. I like a touch of warming spices too.

I have learned, too, that a banana bread butt goes a long way. We shave the ends off the loaf and offer them as a treat to young kids waiting in line with their parents, or a kind customer, or any person who looks like they could use a pick-me-up. People chuckle when I say, “Hi, would you like a banana bread butt?” It’s a small gesture, a kindness, a way to say, “I see you, thank you”.

Perhaps this notion of banana bread as care lodged in my brain because it became my go-to vehicle of comfort in the days and weeks after Hurricane Helene. In the storm’s aftermath, my husband and I spent the critical week after running supplies up the mountain. At Firestorm Co-op, the anarchist bookstore turned mutual aid hub, a message board constructed of Sharpie-scribbled notices, plastered and taped to the large glass window, updated folks on where to find generators, or water, or free tree work, or a hot meal. The bustling hub was an amalgam of queers, anarchist punks, families with small children, Asheville crunchies, anyone in need. Daily meetings occupied the days for organizers who connected people to resources. These same people ran supplies to vulnerable neighborhoods sunup to sundown. The work was exhausting but they seemed compelled, almost supernaturally, to keep going. In the urgency of it all, many pushed aside their own basic needs to care for their fellows, often forgetting to eat, or going for days on only packaged ready-to-eat foods. Disaster dining. I arrived in the late afternoon on one of these days.

Toting a canvas bag stuffed with freshly baked banana bread, I reached into my bag and pulled out two loaves, one for each of my organizer friends. Madison Jane, burlesque dancer extraordinaire, hairdresser, and general baddie peeled the plastic wrap from the loaf and took a bite from its end. Her eyes rolled with pleasure. I looked to my right and my other friend was eating the loaf from its butt end, like Madison, bite by bite. I left a second loaf with Madison and her partner to share with their neighbor. I dropped another loaf on the stone steps of a friend’s home. Banana bread as balm.

Is it dramatic to say banana bread is a small way to love someone? I don’t think so.

In the midst of our current hellscape, as inept power-hungry clowns dismantle the government and the rights of lawful citizens deemed “Other” are stripped away with every news headline, I have grasped at ways to remain grounded. Feeding people is one way. Banana bread seems as good a place to start as any.

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Banana Bread with Toasted Walnuts & Milk Chocolate

Makes one 9x4-inch loaf

½ cup (62g) all-purpose flour

½ cup (67g) whole wheat flour

¾ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon ginger

¾ cup (167g) granulated sugar

½ cup (104g) grapeseed oil (or any neutral oil)

Scant ⅓ cup (75g) full-fat buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 whole egg (50g)

1 egg yolk (15g)

¾ cup (90g) toasted and chopped walnuts

½ cup milk (100g) chocolate chips

3 bananas

Grease the loaf pan with non-stick spray or soft butter. Create a saddle of parchment paper that extends the length of the pan, leaving a few inches of overhang. You will use this overhang to lift the loaf out of the pan later. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flours, baking soda, salt and spices. In a separate bowl, thoroughly whisk together sugar, oil, buttermilk, vanilla, egg, and yolks.

Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients. Starting from the outer edge, use a spatula to gently stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Think of it as sweeping the dry ingredients from the outer edge into the wet center, and then use a folding motion to bring it all together. Mix until only a few dry spots remain.

Add the toasted walnuts and milk chocolate. Mash the bananas (I like using a potato masher for this part) and add to the bowl. Gently fold all the inclusions into the mixture, incorporating evenly into the batter.

Pour into the loaf pan and bake for 60-65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool completely before removing the loaf from the pan.